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by Lisa See
In the depths of a Beijing winter, during the waning days of Deng Xiaoping's reign, the U.S. ambassador's son is found dead - his body entombed in a frozen lake.
Almost simultaneously, American officials find a ship adrift in the storm-churned waters off Southern California. No one is surprised to find the fetid hold crammed with hundreds of undocumented Chinese immigrants - the latest cargo in the Chinese mafia's burgeoning smuggling trade. What does surprise Assistant U.S. Attorney David Stark is his discovery that among the hapless refugees lies the corpse of a Red Prince, a scion of China's political elite.
The Chinese and American governments suspect that the deaths are connected, and in an unprecedented move they join forces to solve this cross-cultural crime. Stark heads for Beijing to team up with police detective Liu Hulan, whose unorthodox methods are tolerated only because of her spectacular investigative abilities. Their investigation carries them (and the reader) into virtually every corner of today's China - from its glitzy karaoke bars, where the nation's new elite cuts deals, to the labyrinthine hutongs, where ordinary Beijingers have lived and died for centuries.
Stark and Liu's search leads them from the Chinese capital to Los Angeles's thriving Asian community and turns up a bloodthirsty murderer at the very apex of China's power structure. Their work together also ignites their passion for each other - a passion forbidden by their respective governments and one that plays right into the hands of a serial killer.
"Moving smoothly from On Gold Mountain, the praised memoir of her Chinese-American family, See applies her knowledge of Chinese customs and traditions to a complex and exciting novel...The fascinating picture of China's political heritage and complex social culture makes this debut thriller a standout." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Flower Net proclaims See's considerable talents as novelist, skillfully blending suspenseful storytelling, romantic intrigue, and stirring plot twists...[She] vividly render[s] the turmoil of China's recent history and the paradoxes of contemporary life there. This formidable portrayal of China's culture and the country's harsh system of justice constitutes a striking backdrop for See's compelling tale." ―Booklist
"Flower Net is a lively, exciting page-turner, full of creative twists and unexpected turns. It leads the reader into a mysterious Chinese alchemy that is strange and fresh and highly entertaining." ―Sheryl WuDunn, author of China Wakes
This information about Flower Net was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lise See's first book was On Gold Mountain, a history/memoir of her Chinese-American family. A former West Coast correspondent for Publishers Weekly, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.
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